The United Kingdom goes onto daylight saving time once again on 28 October. Here’s an excerpt from my book, The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy, on the lead-up to the United Kingdom’s experiment with permanent daylight saving time or GMT+1 in 1968-71. The move was controversial and almost straightaway there were various studies and moves to rescind it. …

The question of harmonising British time with Europe came up again in parliament in 1963. Most of the Continent didn’t have daylight saving at that time although many countries such as France, Belgium and the Netherlands were effectively on year round summer time with clocks 40-50 minutes ahead of the sun in their capital cities. The United Kingdom was on the same time as its European trading partners for seven months each year but was one hour behind in the other five months. Support for staying on GMT+1 all year was strong among business and workers as shown by the 1960 survey but not among the farming community or the education sector. By late December, sunrise wouldn’t be until after 9 a.m. in London and around 9:45 a.m. in Edinburgh.

In general, the tide of opinion was thought to be moving in the direction of keeping the clocks forward. In October 1966, just before the end of daylight saving, a motion was introduced into the House of Commons to align with Western Europe all year:

“That this House, recognising the success of the experimental extensions to the period of British Summer Time and that reversion to Greenwich Mean Time will unnecessarily hamper commercial communication with Europe, urges Her Majesty’s Government to bring Great Britain into line with Europe by adopting British Summer Time, mid-European time, throughout the whole year.”[1]

Home secretary Roy Jenkins undertook a review into the matter in 1966 and 1967, consulting with 87 organisations in agriculture, industry, commerce, construction, energy, education, travel, health, sport, women’s groups, local government, and other areas. He was able to report in March that the Trades Union Congress supported the proposal. The congress had been in favour of continuous daylight saving back in 1960. Jenkins finished his inquiry and was satisfied that shifting the United Kingdom’s time zone to GMT+1 after the end of summer time in 1968 would be in the best interests of the country. An announcement to this effect was made on 22 June 1967.

There seemed to be little backlash to what would in effect be a move to ongoing daylight saving time. Even the Farmers’ Union of Scotland more or less accepted the decision, with president Mr C Young stating: “We do not like it and we do not see the need for it, but we will put up with it if it is in the national interest.” A public opinion poll found that 45 per cent of people approved of the government’s proposal while 25 per cent didn’t want any change and 27 per cent had no particular view.

Daylight saving in 1968 would commence on the earlier date of 18 February for several reasons. It would accustom people to the new time before a permanent change. Sunrise in London would be at about the same clock time, just after 8 a.m., as in late December. Sunset would be 6:20 p.m., after peak traffic, which should mean fewer road deaths and injuries. Clocks would then remain one hour ahead rather than being wound back in October.

A name was needed for the proposed new time arrangement as British Summer Time would no longer be appropriate. Home secretary James Callaghan called for suggestions from members, the media and the public as to what the new time should be called. He received over 100 different names, such as British European Time, British Standard Time, Central European Time, Mid-European Time, Western European Time, Churchill Time, Willett Time, Advance Time, Advanced Meridian Time, Civil Time, Common Time, Mean Civil Time, and Permanent Time. Names that included Greenwich were Advanced Greenwich Time, Greenwich Advanced Time, Greenwich Ante-Meridianal Time, Greenwich British Time, Greenwich Global Time, Greenwich Less One, Greenwich Mean Time Advanced, Greenwich Plus Time, Greenwich Time, New Greenwich Mean Time, and Plus Greenwich. Some novelty names included Orbitim, Orbitime, Orbitum, Same All the Year Round Time, Solar Plus, Solar Time, and Solextra.

Two newspapers ran naming competitions and British Standard Time was selected by one paper as the most favoured choice by far. Callaghan agreed with it. The name was the standout choice in the government poll too, being more than five times as popular as the second favourite pick. In the House of Lords, 61 preferred British Standard Time to Advanced Greenwich Time and 49 favoured the latter. Greenwich Mean Time would be retained for astronomy, meteorology and navigation.

The British Standard Time Bill was introduced into the House of Lords in November 1967. Minister of state Lord Stonham stressed that the proposed change in time zone wasn’t so much due to the United Kingdom trying to join the European Economic Community but to expected improvements in the overall economy after weighing up the advantages for productivity, energy, communication and transport with the disadvantages for agriculture and construction. On the social side were the greater opportunities for outdoor sport and other activities, the expected reduction in road accidents, relative safety for school children heading to school in the dark compared with walking home after nightfall, and not having to alter the clocks twice a year. After a lengthy debate, the bill passed the second reading by 49 votes to 13. Later it was read a third time and sent to the Commons where an even longer debate was followed by a 179 to 61 second reading vote at about 11 p.m.

The bill was eventually passed and became the British Standard Time Act 1968 on 26 July. Plenty of concerns remained, such as children in the north walking to school in the dark who would be encouraged to wear reflective armbands as well as vests and cuffs for visibility, especially as some local governments turned off street lighting at midnight. By May 1968, secretary of state for Scotland William Ross had received 114 representations from local councils, churches, agricultural and other organisations, private firms and individuals against moving permanently to GMT+1 and none in support of it. A few representations had been received by the Home Department from England, three from Wales and none from Northern Ireland by late in the year.

After more than 50 years of daylight saving, the United Kingdom abandoned the practice and instead shifted to GMT+1, which would be used 12 months of the year, initially as a three year trial from 27 October 1968.

“… Through the use of extensive research (all backed by source references throughout), tables, illustrations, and some fine journalistic quips Chris walks us through the enigma of this controversial manipulation of mind and time. … Informative and even entertaining, this is the ‘bible’ for the topic of Daylight saving time.” Grady Harp, 1 May 2017

“Abundance of details, yet fun facts also included. Select the country or continent of choice. … information-rich 400 pages book … In every country on every continent, Antarctica included, setting a start and end date to a yearly daylight saving period turned out to be one of the most sensitive topics in politics.” Henk-Jan van der Klis, 1 July 2017

“An encyclopaedia of interesting research … This book is jam packed with research and unless it’s something you really want to study in depth at once, I personally preferred to dip in and out, there’s no way you can take all this information in during one read. Great job though an ideal point of reference.” H.Taylor, 12 May 2017

“… The book is a treasure of information about anyone that wants to learn more and dig deeper in the concept of daylight saving time. I was shocked to learn that something trivial like changing time every few months had to go through a turmoiled procedure.
The author magnificently presents the evolution stages of how it started, evolved and applied over the years. … It is a valuable source of information, and I really enjoyed reading it. Highly Recommended.” KM, 17 September 2017

I’ve added a simple index to the pdf version of my ebook on daylight saving time, The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy; no indexes in ebooks themselves. This will give people an idea what’s in the book. The numbers refer to the page numbers in the pdf version. (I was going to single space the entries sometime but I think this would mean pressing Shift + Enter about 3400 times, which is the total number of entries.)

My latest ebook, The Great Daylight Saving Time Controversy, has just been published by Australian eBook Publisher. It’s available at the various Amazon sites, Kobo, Apple and Google. See links below (Amazon links come up as images; the first one is the Australian site and the second one is the US site).

The book examines the origins of daylight saving, including the historical development of calendars, clocks, standard time, and the idea of changing the clock to give more daylight late in the day. It looks at the history of daylight saving in every country that has ever used the measure. It also analyses daylight saving in each state of the US, Australia and Brazil, and each Canadian province.

It features many intriguing and often prolonged battles between advocates and critics of daylight saving in countries around the world, as well as lighter moments. It highlights the determination of daylight saving time champions such as the UK’s William Willett, the US’s Robert Garland and Harley Staggers, New Zealand’s Thomas Sidey and Tasmania’s John Steer. It delves into the chaotic daylight saving situations that emerged, notably in the US and Canada, but also elsewhere. Every country and sometimes each state has a different and usually controversial story to tell.

See the contents page of the ebook below. Length is about 400 pages in Word/pdf format.

(originally published to Helium writing site, now gone; written in 2008, updated in 2013)

About 70 countries around the world use daylight saving time (DST), advancing their clocks one hour in the spring and turning them back in autumn. Changeover time in most countries is the wee small hours of Sunday morning, which causes the least disruption to businesses and households alike.

Virtually all European countries have daylight saving time. The European Community countries now have coordinated DST, starting on the last Sunday in March since 1981 and ending on the last Sunday in October since 1998. The only country not to use it is Iceland where it gets dark so late and light so early in summer that DST would be of limited use. Iceland last had DST in 1967.

Most of Europe had DST during World War I, especially Western Europe. DST finished in many European countries after 1919 or 1920, although some kept it through the entire interwar period, such as the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, as did parts of Canada and the United States. Nearly all of Europe adopted DST during World War II, some not turning back their clocks at all for several years. Two hours of daylight saving in summer, called double daylight saving time, and one hour in winter was common practice. Daylight saving time was often called War Time during this period. Various countries in other parts of the world had DST during World War II.

After the war, some countries stopped DST, although a number continued with it for a few years before abandoning it. The only places to have had DST in the entire postwar period are parts of the United States and Canada. No European country has had it throughout this period. The closest is the United Kingdom, which has had it in all years except 1968-1971 when it switched to Central European Time (GMT+1) and consequently didn’t have separate DST. A large number of countries resumed daylight saving time in the 1970s and early 1980s, especially at the time of the energy crises.

In the United States, DST was a state and local issue, with the result that some areas had it and other didn’t. During a train or road trip of a few hours, a person could pass through a number of different time zones. There were even instances of people living on opposite sides of a river being on different times. This caused various problems when family members went to work or school or the shops on the other side of the river. On one occasion, different workers in a single building were on two separate times, as some businesses recognised DST and others didn’t. A similar problem still happens at the southern end of Australia’s Gold Coast area where the state of New South Wales has DST but the state of Queensland doesn’t have it.

Daylight saving time became a federal issue in the United States in 1966 with the Uniform Time Act. Since then, nearly all states have had DST. Exceptions are Arizona except the Navajo Nation, and Hawaii. The only occasion Hawaii had DST was in 1933, for three weeks from 30 April to 21 May, although some sources say it lasted just one day and was abandoned on 1 May. DST is less useful in tropical areas as day and night are of similar length. Indiana has observed DST since 2006. In Alaska and Florida, there are moves to try and end DST. The period of DST each year in the United States was extended by a month under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. It now lasts almost two-thirds of the year, from the second Sunday in March to the first Sunday in November.

All of Canada except Saskatchewan province observes DST, including those areas within the Arctic Circle where daylight lasts 24 hours for at least part of the summer. The whole of Saskatchewan moved to the Central time zone in 1966, which effectively means it has year round DST. Similarly, time zone boundaries for many countries have changed considerably over the years and are still occurring. Most changes tend to be in a easterly direction and are often for the purpose of saving daylight. This results in a skewing of zones and is evident in places like the United States, Canada, southern South America, Western Europe, parts of Africa, as well as Russia, China and Mongolia. On top of this, most of these places also have DST, although China stopped in 1991 and Mongolia in 2006.

While the use or non-use of DST is quite settled in Europe and North America, this isn’t the case in Asia. About seven Asian countries currently observe DST. Iran had it from 1978 to 1980 and from 1991 to 2005, and again from 2008. Iraq used it from 1982 to 2007. Israel had DST for most of the period 1940 to 1957, 1974, 1975, and all years since 1985. At the end of DST, until 2012 clocks were moved back on the Sunday between the two holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, whose dates differ each year. From 2013, clocks go back on the last Sunday in October. Georgia had DST in World War II and for most years since 1981, until 2004. Japan only used it from 1948 to 1951 but moves to resurrect it have gained momentum since the late 1990s. South Korea has hardly used DST either. Taiwan hasn’t used it since 1980. Many of the previous USSR countries have abandoned it. Pakistan had it in 2002, 2008 and 2009 due to high fuel costs.

Mexico observed DST during World War II. The whole country, including its tropical areas, has had DST since 1996, except Sonara from 1999 due to its trade with Arizona. Baja California has had it for several decades. In Central America, most countries have used it at some stage, although none use it at the moment. Guatemala and Nicaragua have had it sporadically since 1973, when energy conservation demands it. In the West Indies, the Bahamas and Cuba have used DST since the mid 1960s.

In South America, Argentina and Brazil have opted in and then out of DST six and five times respectively. Some states in Brazil have used it each year since 1985, while certain Argentinian provinces resumed it in 2007 to 2009. Uruguay has the world record for the most episodes of DST with eleven: 1923-24 to 1925-26, 1933-34 to 1938-39, 1939-40 to 1942-43, 1959-1960, 1965-1970, 1972, 1974-1976, 1977-78, 1979-80, 1987-88 to 1992-93, and 2004-05 to present. This country narrowly shades Portugal who has had ten episodes of DST. Energy saving considerations play a major role in most of these countries. Other South American countries currently using DST include Chile and Paraguay.

Most of Africa doesn’t observe DST and it is the only continent where most countries have never adopted it. Egypt had it during World War II and again from 1957 until 2010. Algeria used it in both world wars and for a few odd years in the 1970s. Libya has had it on and off, including from 2012. Namibia has had it since 1994 and Morocco since 2008. A handful of other African countries have had DST for a period before abandoning it. South Africa used it for two years in the 1940s but not since.

In Australia, Tasmania started DST in 1916. The rest had it in 1917, for a few years in World War II and, in most states, since 1971. Western Australia underwent a trial period of DST from 2006-07 to 2008-09, but hasn’t continued with it. Queensland hasn’t observed DST since 1992, although it comes up as a political issue every spring. Most residents in the state’s populated south-east want it while the rest don’t. New Zealand has had it every year since 1974-75. Fiji used it in 1998-2000 and since 2009, and Samoa since 2011. DST is used in Antarctica by certain stations if their home country has it.

In summary, nearly all of Europe observes daylight saving time whereas usage varies elsewhere. It is less common in tropical areas where day and night don’t vary much in length or in high latitude regions where summer nights are very short. A large number of countries have started and then finished DST a number of times, or tend to experiment with it, often when energy costs rise. It remains a contentious issue in many parts of the world.